This invention relates generally to attachment of wire or cable to a surface. Cables and wires have achieved a position of importance in that they are used extensively in telephone, telegraph, television, and electrical power industries, and the like. In many instances the cable is attached to a surface, such as in a building, by a fastener such as a nail or staple. Typical surfaces of attachment are compatible with use of nails or staples. The earliest cable attachments might have, for example, been made by driving a nail part way into a wooden surface where the cable was to be attached, positioning the cable beside the nail, the bending the nail over the cable to hold it. The multiple steps are, of course, time consuming and, thus, costly. Another early means of attaching cable to a surface was with staples which are placed over the wire and driven into the wood, or other surface, by striking the staple with a hammer. Still another means of attaching cable is by means of driving a staple from a staple gun and over the cable, such that the gun drives the staple with a single blow much like a hammer drives the staple with multiple blows.
Staples are generally preferred over bent nails. The staples may be faster, particularly if a staple gun is used. Also the staple leaves no opening where the cable might escape the hold of the fastener. There are, however, problems with the use of staples, although the quickest attachment is done with a staple gun. Staple guns are not particularly sensitive to the deformability of the cable. The gun should exert adequate striking force to drive the staple firmly into the surface, and gently, but firmly, grip the cable. But surfaces vary in hardness, and so it is not unusual for a gun to not fully drive the staple into firm contact with the cable, as when attaching it to hardwood. Or, the gun may drive the staple so hard as to cause the staple to somewhat deform the cable. Either case presents problems with the installation. If the cable is not held firmly in place, it may be moved by wind or by accidental bumping and the like. Such movement is injurious to the cable as well as to the cable exterior. If the cable is deformed by the staple, the electrical signals being carried by the cable may be undesirably altered by virtue of the deformation in the cable.
Another problem with the use of staple guns is that, if the gun is misaligned over the cable, then the staple may cut or penetrate the cable, thereby yielding a faulty installation.
Currently, there are available protective clips with nails. The clip is emplaced by hand over the cable, and the nail, or nails, are pounded into the surface with a hammer. While this method may result in a quality installation job, it is slow as compared to a staple gun, and there is the risk of striking the cable with the hammer and damaging it. Using a staple gun is substantially faster, but the quality of the installation job may not be acceptable, due to the staple gripping the cable too tightly, or not tightly enough or penetrating the cable.
It is an object of the invention to provide an improved method of attaching cable to a surface, where the cable may be attached to surfaces representing a variety of hardnesses, and where the cable is not penetrated, and is held neither too loosely nor too tightly, but rather, firmly and gently.
It is another object to provide an improved driving gun for simultaneously driving a fastener and a clip over a cable.
It is yet another object to provide a clip which can be used in an improved driving gun, and wherein the clips may be attached to each other, by means of retainer means on the clips, to form a strip of clips.
It is still another object of the invention to provide a driving gun for simultaneously driving a clip and a pair of fasteners such as nails.
Another object of the invention is to provide a driving fun with a magazine brake in the magazine of the gun.